Next week’s unveiling of Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2013-2014 budget could mean a banner year for Gilroy Unified School District’s state cash flow.
Brown’s proposed budget is expected to include a significant increase in state funding – $3,000 per student – for each child that does not speak English at home (known as English Language Learners), and for each child from a low-income family. This would be a big boost for school districts that have a disproportionate number of students in these demographics.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 44.8 percent of Gilroy’s children who are 5 or older speak a language other than English at home, and persons below the poverty level was at 11 percent for the 2007-2011 census period.
But when it comes to promises of more state funding for schools, President Paul Winslow of the Gilroy Teachers Association says he will believe it when he sees it.
“This would be a major shift in funding,” Winslow said. “It would be great for Gilroy, but this promise has been out there for a few years now.”
Superintendent Debbie Flores with the Gilroy Unified School District is poised to give the new budget a thorough examination before celebrating.
“We want to wait and see what the actual numbers are,” she said. “We anticipate that our revenue will increase, but we want to take everything into account.”
This isn’t the first time Brown has attempted to reallocate funding for K-12 schools in California. The measure is also encountering resistance from some of the more affluent school districts in the state.
Board of Education President Wes Fifield with the Upland Unified School District in southern California is one of the opponents.
“If there’s less money for us, as a board member for the Upland Unified School District, I’m obviously not thrilled about that,” he told the LA Daily News.
With the way Brown’s formula is designed, “you are going to have winners and losers,” added Superintendent George Mannon with the Torrence Unified School District.
Michael Kirst, president of the State Board of Education, attempted to quell fears, telling the LA Daily News that “there never was a proposal to take money from schools and give it to other schools. All schools are to increase in their amounts. They’ll just increase differently.”
GUSD Assistant Superintendent Rebecca Wright will be attending a workshop after next week’s budget is released to hear a full analysis and updates surrounding the proposed funding measure.
